


A Tenuous Thought

by didsomeonesayventus



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-08-27 02:13:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8384035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/didsomeonesayventus/pseuds/didsomeonesayventus
Summary: “Y-you know…” He glanced around the hall, admiring the new mahogany walls and the slate flooring. Hardly a detail missed in the restoration. “you could’ve warned me that we needed to dress nicer for this.”





	

Ven blinked a couple times, eyeing over Aqua’s decidedly… not Aqua ensemble. It was far fancier than anything he’d ever seen, and he didn’t even think she liked being that classy (after all, even her standard outfit left room for action and practicality). All sorts of trains and lace, and then so many bits of jewelry layered in just the right way…

He swallowed a little, then coughed. He was SO under dressed for this. If he’d known how much she would’ve taken this seriously he’d be in something much better than one of Terra’s hand-me-down formal wear.

“Y-you know…” He glanced around the hall, admiring the new mahogany walls and the slate flooring. Hardly a detail missed in the restoration. “you could’ve warned me that we needed to dress nicer for this.”

He didn’t even think Aqua looked at him as he fumbled to hold his arm. They kept walking, the distance between their rooms and the grand hall never getting close to ending. Ven was almost shuffling alongside Aqua’s poised and precise heels that seemed to jab into his ear (and then yet again with a footstep and yet again with each echo).

“Ven, you’re fine.”

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. He was about even with her height these days after all his growing, but with his slouch he was just a little short. Short enough to see her with head held high and expression perfectly composed into neutrality. But her eyes shone like diamond dust. Short enough to feel so terribly small next to her.

“If you don’t stand right, then we’ll be disappointed.” She said with the smallest smile and barest turn of her head.

He stood straighter, suddenly, shaking a little in an attempt to get himself to that same level of grace that Aqua seemed to exude. He was walking too fast- now too slow. His footsteps were as heavy as lead. He was standing straight but he wasn’t relaxed. Too relaxed, and now he looked like he had scoliosis or something. He tugged at the gold brocade hem on his sleeves, wishing they went farther down his arm than mid-forearm because it felt so small like it wasn’t fitted for him; and it wasn’t but they said he’d fit it and look where he was now.

He looked at Aqua again, and the heart on his sleeve bled into his lost expression.

She stopped- mechanically perfect and on a dime, “Ven, are you okay?”

Ven’s stop was sloppy, stumbling. He couldn’t’ve predicted her pause because everything she did was so sudden and decisive.

He shrugged after a long time, “Dunno…”

She joined him in looking at his feet. “He’d be proud.” She said softly. “He’d be so proud of you, Ven.”

“I barely knew him… I didn’t know him like you and Terra did…” He whispered back. “I-I don’t…” His grip on his arm tightened, and a free hand became a fist, “I don’t feel like… I deserve to be here with you guys while we’re doing this.” Honoring the castle and old Master that he’d never been a part of. They belonged here, where it was clean and elegant and filled with tradition. He was a stray, clingy puppy they’d picked up from filthy streets that couldn’t fit right.

He turned around, “This is for you guys. This is your home.” They’d planned the ceremony from the moment they started the restoration, always excitedly chattering about what the catering would be and the speeches and the look. Always “them”. All of them. Yet all Ventus felt now was a world he barely knew and had no hope in representing.

“Ven, the Master would love for you to be here.” Aqua held his shoulder.

Ven felt himself tearing up. He bit down on his lips, trembling, trying not to think too hard about the last time he saw Master Eraqus. The very last time, seeing that blade rushing towards him while that soothing baritone was telling him he had to-

“Ventus.” Aqua whirled around to hold both his shoulders and look him in the eye, “He would want you here. The Master loved you as much as he did me and Terra, and I promise that isn’t a lie.”

Ven looked away, “Like how you said I always lived here-”

Aqua turned his gaze right back on her, “He loved you, Ven.” He watched her lips, suddenly noticing that she was wearing a deep, wine dark lipstick, “He loved you.”

“Did he?” Ventus asked softly. Aqua could almost imagine Ventus- little Ventus, “zombie” Ventus clinging to his sheets and watching her with dim, inquisitive eyes that searched for her answer.

“He really did Ven.” She patted his shoulder before resuming their walk, “Come on now, everyone’s waiting for us. It’s not very fair to leave Terra to the sharks, now is it?”

Ven squinted, “But Terra’s not anywhere near-”

“I mean our guests, sleepyhead.” Aqua laughed. She ruffled his hair, and the two shared a contagious grin before making their way to the grand hall.

**Author's Note:**

> Just wrote this up for my RP blog and I like how it came out so (jazz hands)


End file.
